Nagpur, Oct 25
The secretary of Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) Sunder Iyer said the state body will bid for ITF tournament in the Orange City.
He was speaking during his visit to the Ram Nagar court of Nagpur District Hardcourt Tennis Association (NDHTA) on Sunday.
Mr Iyer assured all support from MSLTA to bring more tournaments and better sponsorships.
Nitin Kannamwar and Leena accompanied Iyer from MSLTA, and they had discussions with NDHTA Executive Committee officials. Due to Covid pandemic, there has hardly been any major tournament held in past one and half years, but going forward there are AITA and ITF tournaments being planned. After inspection of the courts available in Nagpur, the MSLTA team assured to bid for ITF 25000 tournaments for men & women to be held at Nagpur. AITA U-14 and U-16 tournaments and Zonal U-14 and U-17 tournaments would be held in coming months. Dr Sudhir Bhiwapurkar, Vijay Naidu, Dr Darshan Dakshindas participated in the discussions on behalf of NDHTA.
Iyer said, “ A lot is happening in the sport of tennis, and many young players are taking up this sport. The ideal age to start would be 12 to 13 years, and if a player performs consistently for another 12-13 years, he or she has a good chance to break into the top tier of the country, and get a chance at representing India at ITF tournaments. Coaches and infrastructure need to be upgraded and MSLTA is investing a lot in this area.”
Speaking further Iyer who is the joint secretary of AITF and has been appointed on Maharashtra Olympic Committee said “ Technology is also being introduced to make players more aware of their body and muscle, and fitness is being improved resulting in lesser injuries”
Dr Dakshindas who recently won a gold medal in the All India Civil Services tennis tournament held in New Delhi recently was also honoured on the occasion.
NDHTA felicitated these two stalwarts by presenting a scroll of honour at the hands of president Kumar Kale and vice-president Ashok Bhiwapurkar.
Dr Darshan Dakshindas in his acceptance speech thanked the NDHTA for the recognition, and informed that he had practiced for two years to participate in this All India tournament. He is a senior academic at Government Dental College & Hospital and tennis is his passion. He assured to give his best to improve the tennis fraternity in Nagpur, and has been instrumental in building the new tennis court on GMCH premises recently. Treasurer Vijay Naidu conducted the programme